ERES UN UNIVERSO DE UNIVERSOS you are a universe of universes Reconnecting with the human aspects of medicine through field experiences on La Isla de Ometepe Nicaragua—la isla de Ometepe Nicaragua—the island of Ometepe el 16 de julio al 29 de julio, 2007 July 16—July 29, 2007 Lauren Kelly Dr. Pamela B. Kleiber University of Georgia “Ama tu ritmo . .” Ama tu ritmo y ritma tus acciones bajo su ley, así como tus versos; eres un universo de universos y tu alma una fuente de canciones. La celeste unidad que presupones hará brotar en ti mundos diversos, y al resonar tus números disperos pitagoriza en tus constelaciones. Escucha al retórica divina del pájaro del aire y la nocturna irradiación geométrica adivina; mata la indiferencia taciturna y engarza perla y perla cristalina en donde la verdad vuelca su urna. RUBEN DARIO 2 “Love Your Rhythm . .” Love your rhythm and rhythm your actions in obedience to its law, and your poetry as well; you are a universe of universes, and your soul a fountain of song. The celestial unity that you presuppose will make varied worlds germinate within you, and, as your scattered poems resound, philosophize like Pythagoras among your constellations. Listen to the divine rhetoric of the bird in the air, and divine the geometric radiation of the night; slay silent indifference and slay pearl on crystalline pearl there where truth pours out her urn. RUBEN DARIO translated by STANLEY APPLEBAUM Darío, Rubén. Cuentos y Poesías/Stories and Poems. Ed. and Trans. Stanley Appelbaum. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2002. 3 La Isla de Ometepe 4 NICARAGUA—la isla de Ometepe el 16 de julio (lunes) a el 29 de julio (domingo) lunes 16: llegada a Managua martes 17: llegada a Ometepe miércoles 18: atender pacientes a la clínica de San José del Sur jueves 19: Feriado Nacional viernes 20: subir Volcán Maderas sábado 21: visitar Altagracia y el mirador domingo 22: misa, juego de béisbol, relajarse lunes 23: atender pacientes a la clínica de Las Pilas martes 24: salida a Corozal—atención de pacientes y de comedor infantil miércoles 25: atender pacientes a la clínica de San José del Sur jueves 26: atender pacientes a la clínica de Santa Teresa viernes 27: Playa Santo Domingo sábado 28: salida de Las Pilas a Managua por Moyogalpa domingo 29: salida de Managua a los Estados Unidos 5 AN OASIS OF PEACE the world. According to 2004 World Bank classification, Nicaragua served as the only low-income country (income below $765 per La doctora Sandra Villagra, a Nicaraguan clinical physician capita) in Central America. On my first adventure to the nation and dear friend of mine, sent me the previous schedule in the early known as the ‘heart of America’, la doctora and her many friends days of July 2007. It served to roughly outline the two weeks I spent welcomed me to the island insulated from the rest of the country by on La Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua working with her to provide the waters of Lake Cocibolca. healthcare to four communities spanning the island. We visited the The following compilation includes reflections and analyses villages of Las Pilas, Corozal, San José del Sur, and Santa Teresa, written in the four months after my return from Nicaragua. I used each rich in hidden treasures and uniquely characterized by their my bilingual and visual journal to document smells, sights, feelings, charming inhabitants. The written schedule comprised our sole sounds, and tastes that marked my experience on La Isla de communication until I met la doctora carismática in person my Ometepe, but also to record questions I developed in the field, to second day on the island. compare and contrast my array of experiences, and to question prior As a undergraduate student preparing for a career in global assumptions. The subsequent passages represent developed ideas infectious diseases prevention and management, I set out to and specific awakenings that transpired from iteratively rereading experience the Ometepe way of administering medical services to its and analyzing my journal and expanding on its resonating themes. 38,000 residents. Interested in public health and advocating for Composing Eres un Universo de Universos allowed me to arrive at program implementation at the village level, I wanted to personally essences of the human experience lived by the people of La Isla de meet the impoverished, malnourished, and diseased and not only Ometepe, the haven referred to by singer-song-writer Luis Enrique hear their stories, but live them. The humble people defining the Mejía Godoy as “an oasis of peace”. island—working primarily in agriculture—are some of the poorest in 6 A TWICE-TOLD TALE My physical appearance and lack in fluidity of Spanish In the summer of 2006 I traveled to Arusha, Tanzania conversation inexorably yielded the foreigner stamp. and implemented a three-week service learning initiative Moreover, the verity of traveling alone at age nineteen to a orchestrated by the African Studies Institute at my university faraway island illuminated the power differential. I perceived and the Training Center for Development Cooperation (TCDC) myself as an alien desiring to mesh in a distant culture I knew in Arusha. I wanted to record observations from my first trip only through photographs and literature detailing Nicaraguan abroad with rigor and thus produced an unpublished paper history, politics, and economics. On the contrary, the Ometepe using heuristic, qualitative methodology. Viewing writing as a natives enjoyed the comfort of family and friends and form of inquiry, I longed to again word the world utilizing an possessed boundless knowledge of the language and the land. investigative perspective. Addressing my dual responsibility to accurately depict To bolster my increasing understanding of how to my ‘subjects’ while conveying my findings to an audience, I conduct humanitarian research and elucidate my findings via asked: how do I harvest information from and develop writing, I read A Thrice-Told Tale by Margery Wolf. As she relationships with locals in an appropriate manner? I challenges critics of traditional ethnography, I learned to recognized my limitations as an undergraduate student with continually confront my thinking and perspective for the little funding and the time constraint of two weeks. Coupling duration of my stay in Nicaragua. Despite my initial self- the necessity to have confidence in my observations, analyses, consideration as an educated and brave American, my view and writings as a heuristic researcher, I strived to obtain drastically changed after a few days on La Isla de Ometepe. minimal disruption in the daily lives of the islanders. 7 TU RITMO expose their intimate individual power not only to facilitate contact with celestial Gods, but with other human beings as Nicaraguan poet and essayist Rubén Darío serves as well. one of the most significant Latin American writers of the late Prior to my departure for Nicaragua I spent hours 1800s and early 1900s. Often referred to as the high priest of meditating and praying to spiritually prepare for each of the modernismo, I read an anthology of his stories and poems to days composing my two-week trip. I searched profoundly in expand my cultural knowledge of the people and country of my heart and soul to acquire the strength to endure such a Nicaragua. The underlying theme in “Ama tu ritmo . .” journey in full capacity, the patience and candidness to (“Love Your Rhythm . .”), of rhythm and harmony as keys to understand cultural differences, and the courage to openly the universe, helped shape my medical, heuristic, and speak the language, to develop lasting relationships with the humanitarian perspectives as I immersed myself in the villagers of La Isla de Ometepe, and to strengthen my mind of Ometepe human experience. continual questioning. Darío uses rhythm in poetry as a means of delving Through uniting with myself internally, I explored the deeper into the ambiguities of life and the enigma of men. infinite possibilities I am or rather, the universe of universes. I Stressing the idea of personal exploration, he communicates externalized the courage and aspiration to genuinely live the the rhythmic control derived from connecting first with Nicaraguan life and I embodied the principle, “the more ourselves internally before entering the world of universal discoveries you make, the more questions you raise”. harmony. I venture to interpret his hunger for human beings to 8 NO MAN’S AN ISLAND order to ensure the continuation of the human race, we must We are connected. Despite our communal existence as feel compelled as individuals and act cooperatively to rescue children of God, as humans we are rooted deep within one communities experiencing tragedies worldwide. another. A global network of intricate connections, we reach When Hurricane Felix hammered Nicaragua in from impoverished villages to the very core of world power September, the news story resonated with me more soundly and wealth and back again. than the cyclone striking Bangladesh in November. While For the sake of humanity and well-being of others, I truthful, I recognize fault in such a claim. We are connected. feel a moral responsibility to empower marginalized Travelers, students, and missionaries from the United States populations residing in my own country and to reach out to venture to Bangladesh, the American Red Cross resides in underprivileged individuals across borders. With no intention Dhaka, and numerous corporations outsource garment of self-glorification, I acknowledge some do not have the assembly, creating Bangladeshi industry and providing jobs for innate drive to conquer the myriad inequalities marking the their penniless youth. human experience. I want to no longer make the excuse that the The desire (or lack thereof) to care for other human catastrophes are too great, too frequent, and too deep… while beings—different than our neighbors and loved ones—should they may not be etched in my soul today, they will be not be equated to a simple dichotomy of good and evil.